Psalm 35:10 Komentář

David, in this psalm, appeals to the righteous Judge of heaven and earth against his enemies that hated and persecuted him. It is supposed that Saul and his party are the persons he means, for with them he had the greatest struggles. I. He complains to God of the injuries they did him; they strove with him, fought against him (Psa 35:1), persecuted him (Psa 35:3), sought his ruin (Psa 35:4, Psa 35:7), accused him falsely (Psa 35:11), abused him basely (Psa 35:15, Psa 35:16), and all his friends (Psa 35:20), and triumphed over him, (Psa 35:21, Psa 35:25, Psa 35:26). II. He pleads his own innocency, that he never gave them any provocation (Psa 35:7, Psa 35:19), but, on the contrary, had studied to oblige them (Psa 35:12-14). III. He prays to God to protect and deliver him, and appear for him (Psa 35:1, Psa 35:2), to comfort him (Psa 35:3), to be nigh to him and rescue him (Psa 35:17, Psa 35:22), to plead his cause (Psa 35:23, Psa 35:24), to defeat all the designs of his enemies against him (Psa 35:3, Psa 35:4), to disappoint their expectations of his fall (Psa 35:19, Psa 35:25, Psa 35:26), and, lastly, to countenance all his friends, and encourage them (Psa 35:27), IV. He prophesies the destruction of his persecutors (Psa 35:4-6, Psa 35:8). V. He promises himself that he shall yet see better days (Psa 35:9, Psa 35:10), and promises God that he will then attend him with his praises (Psa 35:18, Psa 35:28). In singing this psalm, and praying over it, we must take heed of applying it to any little peevish quarrels and enmities of our own, and of expressing by it any uncharitable revengeful resentments of injuries done to us; for Christ has taught us to forgive our enemies and not to pray against them, but to pray for them, as he did; but, 1. We may comfort ourselves with the testimony of our consciences concerning our innocency, with reference to those that are any way injurious to us, and with hopes that God will, in his own way and time, right us, and, in the mean time, support us. 2. We ought to apply it to the public enemies of Christ and his kingdom, typified by David and his kingdom, to resent the indignities done to Christ's honour, to pray to God to plead the just and injured cause of Christianity and serious godliness, and to believe that God will, in due time, glorify his own name in the ruin of all the irreconcilable enemies of his church, that will not repent to give him glory. A psalm of David.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 35 A Psalm of David. This psalm seems to have been written by David, when he was persecuted by Saul; and when many false charges were brought against him by his courtiers; and when he was the scorn and derision of the people; the subject of it is pretty much of the same kind with the seventh psalm, and might be written about the same time that was, and on the same occasion; and it may be applied to the church and people of God in like cases. There is a passage in it, Psa 35:19, which our Lord seems to refer to and apply to himself, Joh 15:25; and some interpret the whole of it concerning him. The Arabic version calls it a prophecy of the incarnation; though there does not appear any thing in it applicable to that.

All my bones shall say,.... So, in a figurative sense, vexation and disquietude are ascribed to the bones, Psa 6:2; and sometimes joy and gladness, Psa 51:8. His soul is said to rejoice in Psa 35:9; and here his bones are said to show forth the praises of the Lord; and both together design the whole man, as heart and flesh in Psa 84:2; and the bones being the strength of the body may denote his saying what follows, with all his might, and with all his strength, and with the utmost fervency of spirit: Lord, who is like unto thee; on account of the perfections of his nature, which appear in the salvation and deliverance of his people: there is none like unto him for his wisdom, holiness, power, grace, and mercy; for his foreknowledge, wisdom, and counsel, in forming the scheme of salvation; for his holiness and justice, which are glorified by it; for his might and power in effecting it; and for his grace, mercy, goodness, and faithfulness shown in keeping covenant with his people, in pardoning and passing by their iniquity and transgression, and in condescending to take notice of his poor and needy, to deliver them, as follows; see Psa 113:5; which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him: yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him? in which words the psalmist doubtless respects himself and his own case, who was poor and afflicted, and stood in need of help when he was persecuted by Saul, who was his enemy, too strong for him, and who sought to spoil and ruin him, but the Lord delivered him out of his hands; see Psa 18:17. They agree with the case of all the Lord's poor and needy, who are so not only in a temporal sense, as they commonly be; and in such sense as all mankind are, though everyone is not sensible of his spiritual poverty through sin; having neither food nor raiment, nor anything to procure them with, and yet think themselves rich and increased with goods; but in the best sense, being poor in spirit and rich in faith; these have enemies stronger than they. Sin is sometimes represented as a person, their antagonist that fights against them, wars with them, prevails over them sometimes, and carries them captive: sin is too strong for a man without the grace of God; nay, it was too strong for Adam in innocence, and spoiled him of the image of God, stripped him of his righteousness, and marred all the glory and honour in which he was; and it is too strong for a man that has the grace of God, when left to himself: but the Lord delivers his people from it; they; are redeemed from it, and saved from punishment for it by the blood of Christ; and they are freed from the power and dominion of it, by the Spirit and grace of Christ at conversion, and at death they are delivered from the being of it. Satan is the strong man armed, and is more than a match for the poor and needy; but Christ the mighty God is stronger than he, and has ransomed them out of the hands of him that was stronger than they; and the prey, or they that were made a spoil by him, are taken out of the hands of the mighty, and the lawful captive is delivered: they are, indeed, assaulted by his temptations, in which he would be too many for them, but that they are strengthened against him by the Lord, and are enabled to withstand him; who, in the issue, flees from them; nor can he do as he pleases with them, nor reassume his power over them he once had, nor lead them captive at his will as he once did: God is on their side, Christ is their patron and defender, that pleads their cause against him; the Spirit that is within them is greater than he that is in the world; angels are all around them, and in a little while these poor and needy will be in heaven, and out of his reach, and so of every oppressor and persecutor; now they are the weak things of this world, and their enemies are the mighty ones, and too strong for them, who spoil them of their good name and character, and sometimes of their goods and property; but the Lord does and will deliver them out of their hands, and enter them into rest, where the wicked cease from troubling.

"All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like You" [Psalm 35:10]. Who can speak anything worthily of these words? I think them only to be pronounced, not to be expounded. Why do you seek this or that? What is like your Lord? Him have you before you. "The unrighteous have declared unto me delights, but not after Your law, O Lord!" Persecutors have been who have said, Worship Saturn, worship Mercury. I worship not idols (says he): "Lord, who is like You? They have eyes, and see not; ears have they, but they hear not." "Lord, who is like You," who hast made the eye to see, the ear to hear? But I (says he) worship not idols, for them a workman made. Worship a tree or mountain; did a workman make them also? Here too, Lord, who is like You? Earthly things are shown unto me; You are Creator of the earth. And from these haply they turn to the higher creation, and say to me, Worship the Moon, worship this Sun, who with his light, as a great lamp in the Heavens, makes the day. Here also I plainly say, "Lord, who is like You?" The Moon and the Stars You have made, the Sun to rule the day have You kindled, the Heavens have You framed together. There are many invisible things better. But haply here also it is said to me, Worship Angels, adore Angels. And here also will I say, "Lord, who is like You?" Even the Angels You have created. The Angels are nothing, but by seeing You. It is better with them to possess You, than by worshipping them to fall from You.

I shall say no one is like you, he means, and shall confess you to be more powerful than everyone, even those considered strong and powerful; you are capable of rescuing the poor and insignificant and delivering them from their scheming against the odds.… You see, both the insignificance by comparison with him of the one who suffers and is rescued and also the might of the schemers brought out his greatness: the more effective the release from the schemers was shown to be, the more powerful did the one who effected it appear.

Bones must be understood as strength of spirit and steadfastness of mind. Such things are rightly compared with bones, for just as the body contains bones, so also these qualities strengthen holy desires. So only the bones, which mean firmness, could communicate this mystery, not flesh, which stands for slackness, for only strength of mind can speak such a song of praise.

Consequently, when he says, "all my bones," the second fruit is set forth, which is divine reverence; and regarding this he does two things. First, he sets forth reverence toward God. Second, he assigns the reason, at "rescuing." He says therefore, "all my bones." All the strength of man, compared to God, is weakness; hence the more knowledge one has of God, the less one understands one's own power to be. But because it could be believed that what is weak in us is indeed incomparable to God, but not what is strong, he shows this is not so, because everything, however strong, is incomparable to God. For those things are infinite, but these are finite; and therefore he says, "all my bones," that is, my powers; for by bones is understood strength. Or the apostles will say, "Who is like you?" Job 28: "Gold or glass shall not equal it; nor shall vessels of gold be exchanged for it." Or, from the person of the speaker, "all my bones," that is, whatever is virtuous in me -- or knowledge of truth, or fervor of charity, and the like -- says, "Lord, who is like you?" From this it is asserted that nothing is comparable to God. But against this: it seems that something is similar to God. Hence Gen. 1: "Let us make man in our image and likeness." I respond: Things are called similar which have the same form and character. But there is a twofold likeness. One, which makes things perfectly similar: namely, when two things participate in the same form of one nature. But there is a certain likeness of dissimilar things, namely when a form is found in one thing truly and in another by remote participation; and in this way, this thing is similar to that, not because it has the same form, but because it approaches it according to a feeble participation. And so what is said of God and of man as similar is said of man by remote analogy; as if to say: God exists and you exist, but your existence is participated, his is essential; and similarly of other things; and therefore this likeness is of dissimilar things. And what he says, he manifests through the effect. For someone seems strong when he frees a weak person from a powerful one; for this is a sign of great strength. And God does this in this world. The strong are the rich: Prov. 18: "The substance of a rich man is the city of his strength," etc. But God frees the poor from them. For the rich first invade the poor, and second despoil the weak; but God frees them from these. As to the first, he says, "rescuing the helpless one," that is, the one without resources, "from the hand of those stronger than he." As to the second, he says, "and the needy and the poor from those who plunder him." One is called needy, as if lacking necessities; but poor, as if having nothing in his purse. And these three are the same: namely, helpless, needy, and poor. Prov. 28: "A roaring lion and a hungry bear: a wicked ruler over a poor people." Ezek. 22: "Her princes in her midst are like wolves seizing prey."

The Psalmist invokes God's aid, contrasting the hypocrisy, cunning, and malice of his enemies with his integrity and generosity. The imprecations of the first part including a brief notice of their conduct, the fuller exposition of their hypocrisy and malice in the second, and the earnest prayer for deliverance from their scornful triumph in the last, are each closed (Psa 35:9-10, Psa 35:18, Psa 35:27-28) with promises of praise for the desired relief, in which his friends will unite. The historical occasion is probably 1Sa. 24:1-22. (Psa. 35:1-28) God is invoked in the character of a warrior (Exo 15:3; Deu 32:41).

All my bones--every part. him that spoileth him--(Compare Psa 10:2).